Companies get us to buy products and services by engaging in what marketing strategist Barry Feig calls "hot button marketing.” We all have hot buttons. Triggers that when hit, take us in or
push us away. Things like the desire to be safe, to achieve and to procreate. The desire to dominate, nurture and control our environment.

Duke University is banking on our desire to save money. Beginning on January 2013, Duke will be charging employees who smoke an additional $10 a
month for health insurance.

“Tobacco use is linked to many cancers and other health conditions, so it drives up the cost of health care,” Duke said in a statement. Obviously, the
university wants to recoup whatever extra it's paying for employees who get sick from their bad habits. But if Duke's also using the surcharge as an
incentive for people to stop smoking, it should probably use the money to expand its award-winning smoking cessation program as well. That's because by itself, $10—about the cost of three
lattes—won't make much of a difference.

Sure, money can motivate people. I have a friend who quit smoking after he reassessed his budget and realized he’s been spending close to $150 a month on
cigarettes.

But I’m a former smoker myself. In college, I smoked in between classes, while having coffee with friends and in front of the computer as I banged out
essays and term papers. It hurt my wallet, but I didn’t care. Even if it cost two or three times more, I would’ve done away with other things. Money wasn’t
my trigger.

Survival, family, affinity

What about survival? I’m sure the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s publicity campaign featuring a 51-year-old
ex-smoker with a hole in her throat will scare thousands of people into quitting. But I would’ve just stared at that woman in horror—and gone right back to
puffing.

The younger me isn’t much different from the millions of people who continue to smoke even though they know it’s a risk factor for virtually every type of
chronic disease. Yes they’re scared, but the consequences are too far off, and they can always quit tomorrow. Survival's not their hot button either – at
least not for the short term.

What about family values? I know several people who quit smoking after having kids. Or after falling in love with a non-smoker they wanted to kiss.

But I also know people who smoked well beyond their children graduating from college.

What about our desire to belong? In graduate school, I started hanging out with a bunch of people who thought smoking was the grossest thing in the world.
That’s what made me quit. I no longer had buddies to ruminate with while puffing on a stick.

Affinity was my hot button. Even now, six years later, I still find it difficult to sit beside someone smoking and not want to buy a pack of Capris for
myself. But my husband doesn’t smoke, nor do any of my friends. If I start smoking again, I’d feel ostracized and out of place.

Real is emotional

I’m no expert at changing health behaviors. I know it’s complicated. I know that smoking is addictive, and that I probably don't have the so-called addiction gene, given that I
quit cold turkey and was successful at it.

But I do know that, when it comes to making decisions, there's a rational reason, and there’s a real reason. And real is emotional. Ultimately, it’s
emotion that compels us to stop or start a behavior, buy or not buy a product, support or discount a cause.

Tobacco companies know this. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's efforts to put
graphic warning labels
on cigarette packs got hung up in the courts because five
companies sued on the grounds that the new labels would provoke an emotional response, rather than simply convey information to consumers.

And that’s exactly why the labels would work.

So it’s great that Duke is finally making its employees accountable for their lifestyle choices. But saving money, by itself, is a rational decision. Why we save money matters more. We want to control the future, nurture our families or exert influence over friends. We perceive money as
something that leads to more fun, more choices, more power.

It's different for everybody. By capitalizing on several emotional triggers, such as creating an environment where smoking makes people feel guilty or
fearful or out of place, organizations will have a better chance of getting smokers to stop.

Besides, if someone’s willing to spend $150 a month on cigarettes, what’s an additional $10?